Gemma's 9 Month Update

The past month has been BIG for little miss Gemma!

She got 4 more teeth, so now she has 6! It's making her look so much less like a baby. :(

She started wanting to eat regular food instead of baby food. She will legit get mad at me if I'm trying to feed her baby food but eating something else. She wants it!

She was pretty much sleeping through the night but for about two weeks now has been getting up at least twice. I'm thinking it's teething related.

She can drink from a straw/sippy!

She learned how to clap and does it all the time now.

Not walking yet but she crawls super fast. Everywhere. All.the.time. Haha and stands up next to
everything.

2 naps a day.

Her favorite things are : Bubble Guppies, trying to get in to the dog food/water, anything Elsie has, a very specific pacifier that has little bumps on it for teething, shoes of all sizes, and food.

Elsie Lately

"Da, da, da, da Binch!" (From The Grinch which we've watched a million times in a row)

Me: Elsie it's time to go night night
Elsie: In a minute

"Mom? Mommy? What are you doing?" X100000

"No baby! You can't hab it!"

"Darbie" for Barbie

"pood" for food

Anytime she gets a boo-boo is a Big. Deal. She repeatedly says "my boo-boo owie"

Her favorite movies lately: The Grinch, Mulan, Pocahontas

She won't wear any pants. No leggings. No shorts. Only skirts and dresses. (Insert eye roll here)

Gemma's 1 Month Update

I can't believe how fast 4 weeks have gone by! So much has happened in this first month.

Gemma lost her umbilical cord stump at 7 days and had her first bath.
She smiles when she's awake but only when she wants to.
She has had awesome head control since she was born and pretty much holds it up on her own.
Her eyes are blue and getting lighter by the day.
She eats every 1-3 hours and I'm still breastfeeding. We made it to a month yay! It was rough to start and pretty painful. She has a shallow latch. But it doesn't really hurt anymore unless she cluster feeds and it really did get better right around 2-3 weeks like everyone says.
She's mostly a really great sleeper. We cosleep (because you gotta do what works when you have to be able to function the next day) and she mostly sleeps all night with about 3 feedings. Sometimes she has a bad night if she's gassy.
She really is a calm baby which I wasn't expecting at all since she was always moving and kicking me when I was pregnant.

Gemma was born with a very mild case of clubfoot on both feet. The doctor right after she was born said she only needed stretches and physical therapy. Then at her first week checkup on post, her doctor said it wasn't clubfoot just tight ligaments and recommended the same thing and referred us to a physical therapist. However, the physical therapists recommended we see a pediatric orthopedic specialist to get her feet casted, that they thought she'd need that and not just stretches or even splints.

So when she was 3 weeks old we quickly got a referral to the specialist and got her in to see him that same week. I was sort of thinking/hoping the specialist would say she didn't need casts, but that wasn't the case. He said it was clubfoot and that she needed casts right away (probably should have already been done) for at least 4 weeks and then special shoes/brace after that. So on Thursday she got her first cast which will be changed weekly.

Since we are moving so soon, there are added difficulties with finding a doctor stateside to immediately continue treatment. We can't finish before we leave and she can't have much of a gap between castings and what not. Fingers crossed/ prayers that it all goes smoothly. It's really stressful on top of everything else with moving but we know it's what's best for her so she hopefully doesn't have any delays in walking.

40 Weeks 4 Days Bumpdate

Yep. Still pregnant.

Baby girl seems to just be extra comfy in there. She measured about 3kg or just over 6 pounds last weekend. 

Huge.

I'm 2.5 cm dilated and 75% effaced. The doctor says she just needs to come down a bit and I'll have her. I've pretty much tried everything to have her pineapple, walking, bouncing on a yoga ball, hip circles, sex, red raspberry leaf tea, crawling around the living room, walking stairs, you name it I've tried it. I just refuse to drink any gross oils haha. 

I go to the doctor every other day now, and after today I actually start going to the hospital to get monitored to check on baby. They don't induce using Pitocin here until I am at least 10 days overdue as long as the baby is doing well. The doctor doesn't think I'll go that long though. 

We did have one trip to the hospital last weekend that ended up being false labor. Whomp whomp. It was really frustrating to say the least. The midwife there seemed to think I would be back that day or within a few days but here we are 4 days later, ugh. It really hard to go in to l&d thinking you'll come out with your baby and instead leaving without her. 

Prayers and happy baby having vibes please. It is really hard to be over due. Trying to stay patient. 

Big News!

We are having another baby! 

The due date is January 22nd.

I'm currently 9 weeks +1 day.

I haven't had terrible morning sickness but  have had a considerable amount of nausea the past few weeks. No food aversions like I had with Elsie though! Having a toddler makes it so much harder to deal with.  The first trimester fatigue has really kicked my butt. Thank god for nap time!

I've had two doctor appointments already! Both went really well.  Both times baby had a visible heart beat and last week I got to see the baby wiggle a bit. I go back at 12.5 weeks.

It is a bit early.  Just like with Elsie we found out right away.  We've known since about 4 weeks. However, it is a really hard secret to keep and has been increasingly hard to hide from friends here. Being away from family, we didn't want everyone here to find out before family did so.. we decided to announce. Praying everything keeps going well!

Elsie and baby will be about 22 or 23 months apart depending. We are really excited to have two babies close together!  Can't wait to find out in a couple months if Elsie will have a baby sister or brother! 

10 Month Update!

With the ringing in of the first day of the new year, my baby girl turned 10 months old! 

 (sleepy before her first nap)

This month Elsie:

-got her two front teeth! She also just cut a third bottom tooth. That's 5 teeth total!

-decided she was done with baby food! It was like one day she wanted it and the next she hated it. I can still sometimes get her to eat some from a pouch if she doesn't think there's something better available. And I mix some in with her breakfast oatmeal. She has been eating what we eat for meals other than breakfast. She even had curry chicken and veggies the other day! 

-eats 3 meals a day and sometimes a snack. She drink 4 6oz bottles of formula a day and water with her meals. I don't really give her much juice unless she seems constipated. 

-is not walking on her own yet but walks when holding on to anything. She also has been experimenting with standing up and letting go. She can stand for about 30 seconds by herself. 

-is wearing 12 month clothes and she has even worn a few 18 month pieces. I put away all of the 9 month clothes. 

-loves to play! She can play by herself for hours! She also still loves to watch Sesame Street but we try to limit it to just a few episodes a day. 

-says "mama" or "mum" but mostly only when she's upset or wants something and "dada" but makes a ton of other sounds.

-is still sleeping like a champ! She sleeps from about 7-7:30pm until about 7-7:30am. She will stay up later if we are out doing something but still only sleeps until about 7. She also takes 2 naps a day sometimes 3 if it's a weird day. 

-loves bath time! She likes to flop from one side of the tub to the other and splash! 

She's turning in to a very independent little girl and it is so much fun to watch her grow! She is absolutely the light of our lives! We are such proud parents!

8 Month Update

Elsie Mae is 8 months old today! 

This month she:

-eats cheerios (and would eat them all day if we let her) and eats purees 2-3 times a day

-drinks about 28-30 ounces of formula a day

-pulls up to stand on everything she can

-crawls everywhere and has a super cute fast crawl reserved for when she's really excited (she usually snorts whole doing this haha)

-she has slept through the night for one week now (!!!!!) and fingers crossed that she has just figured out that's what she should do haha 

-her favorite thing in the whole world is Elmo. She absolutely lights up when she sees him or when I put on Sesame Street. She watches it every morning.  

-She can say "bababa" and occasionally will throw in a "mamama" she also makes a cute chewbacca like sound

-she's wearing almost all 9-12 month clothes,  size 4 diapers,  and her chunky little toes barely fit a size 3

I can't wait to see how much shes grown at her doctors appointment at the end of the month!

(our little leopard a few days ago)

We love love love her!

Elsie Mae is 6 Months Old!

Elsie Mae is six months old!

I can't believe our little lady has been in our lives for a whole half of a year! Even though nights can be long, getting up with her two to four times a night, time is absolutely flying by! (And I think my body has just adjusted to less sleep.)

She is quite the busy little bee these days! 

She started eating pureed foods and baby cereal at around five months. She was eating forty ounces of formula a day and I just felt she was ready. It took a couple weeks for her to really get the hang of it but now she is eating three to four ounces of purees a day. She's just now starting to drink a little less formula too. She loves fruits and will tolerate most veggies as long as it's not peas. She hates peas. 

She is quite a big baby! At a park the other day, a man was stunned that Elsie was only six months because she's so big and his baby was seven months and quite a bit smaller than her. She weighs about 19 pounds and is about 26 inches long. I'll have more exact measurements when she goes to the doctor tomorrow. She's a little chunk but her weight gain has definitely started slowing down,

She is determined to be mobile! About two weeks ago she started lifting her belly up off the ground and then shortly after started getting on her knees. She is now rocking back and forth on her knees all the time trying to figure out how to crawl. Also, around the same time, she figured out rolling from front-to-back and from back-to-front. Needless to say, we are babyproofing. 

She still likes going for walks but doesn't like being in the stroller once you stop walking. She wants to be out of that thing seeing what's going on. So she sits in a highchair at restaurants now. 

She is teething like crazy! I swear she will have teeth any day now. The drool has been excessive and she chews on any and everything. 

She's still our happy baby girl! She loves to smile at everyone most of the time and doesn't fuss too much. She can also give some really funny looks, like above, "what do you mean don't chew on that?" haha

I can't wait to see what next month brings! 

4 Month Update

Today Elsie Mae is 4 months old. She's getting so big! At her doctors appointment today she weighed 15 pounds and 14 ounces (diaper off...woah) and is 25 inches long. That's the 91st and 80th percentiles.

Some things she does now:

Rolls over from front to back (at least she has a handful of times)

Sits up supported. Can mostly sit by herself if her hands are planted in front of her. 

Drools...a lot.

Sucks/chews on her fingers.  She doesn't favor any particular finger just all of them.  But hates the pacifier.

She eats a lot. About 31 ounces a day right now.  On average. 

Smiles and laughs. She can really get a belly laugh going if she thinks something is funny.  And she gives out smiles freely. She's really a happy baby.

She doesn't really fuss much.  Only if she's hungry or tired until she gets fed or falls asleep.  And rarely actually cries. 

She loves her exersaucer.

She also grabs at toys now and holds them and puts them in her mouth.  And if they don't fit in her mouth she tends to get mad haha. 

We are working on her sleeping in her crib versus the rock n play. She definitely still favors the rock n play but she's outgrowing it.

She likes watching cartoons but I try not to let her watch too much tv. I think she just enjoys the bright colors.  

Hmm I think that's all the highlights.  We are so crazy about our little girl! 

Some pictures from play group today

Elsie is 3 Months!

Whoa! I'm 3 months old today!

On Friday I weighed 13 pounds 11 ounces (but that was with clothes on) and I measured 22.5 inches long!

I'm so aware of everything going on around me these days. I love to look at the TV if it is on so Mom puts cartoons on for me so I can watch all the colors.

I'm working on rolling over and even did it once on accident, but just once. 

My favorite thing to do is lay on my back and kick my legs. I can kick pretty hard!

But most of the time I'm happy to just sit on Mom's lap. Sometimes I even fall asleep like this!

I don't nap long unless we are going for a walk or in the car, I get sooo sleepy in the car! 

I love to sit up and I'm working on sitting on my own. 

I also love to watch my doggies walk around. They are so silly!

Mom and Dad can't believe how big I'm getting!

Elsie Two Months

Elsie turned two months old on the first!

Most of her second month was spent with family visiting from the states.

In her second month of life...

-she went from only smiling in her sleep to smiling at us all the time. My favorite is when she smiles at me when I go to get her from her rock n play in the morning.

-she started to really enjoy looking at her toys hanging in her pack n play. She even learned that when she moves her arms she can hit them and make them move/jingle.

-her eyesight got way better and she can now see us from several feet away. She also spends a lot of time just looking around at all the new things she hasn't  seen before.

-she loves watching the dogs walk around. Especially chloe when she is playing with her food ball in the morning, Elsie loves watching her walk in circles.

-she enjoys going for walks in her carseat in the stroller as well as car rides. She gets mad sometimes though when you stop moving.  She loves being on the go. 

-she is eating a lot more at one time now which is helping her sleep better at night but we still get up to eat usually twice. Sometimes if we are lucky it's just once 

I think those are really the highlights of month two. Overall she is getting way more aware of her surroundings and more active everyday.

She has been wearing size one diapers and size 0-3 month clothes.  But she is growing really fast.  I'm excited to see just how much she's grown when she goes to the doctor this week! Not to excited for shots though. 

Elsie is 6 Weeks!

Elsie is six weeks old! Here's what's new...

She's been playing with her toys in her pack n play
now that she noticed when she moves her arms they make noise.

Lots of eating! We switched her to a sensitive formula and
she's way less fussy with that which is great!

She hasn't been napping easily during the day but
she's been sleeping a little better at night so that works.

She's getting pretty good at holding up her head during tummy time
 but she doesn't like to lay there too long.

She's growing so fast! 

Elsie's One Month!

I can't believe Elsie's been around for a whole month already! Time is flying by!

Her favorite thing to do these days is still pretty much eat and sleep. A little less sleep than before and at all the wrong times it seems. I'm still up with her about every 2.5-3 hours at night. It's not so bad except most of the time she doesn't want to go right back to sleep after eating so it's hard for me to get as much sleep as I'd like. It could totally be worse and each day varies.

She eats about every 3 hours now. We try to feed on demand so sometimes it's more than that.

At her two week appointment she was already 7lbs 3oz. I weighed myself and then weighed myself holding her yesterday and she was around 9 pounds fully clothed so she might be around 8.5 pounds or so. Her next doctor's appointment isn't until 2 months so we will see how much she weighs then!

She prefers to be held most of the time which is great except when there's other stuff to be done haha. I try to wear her in a wrap or put her down after she falls asleep which most of the time wakes her up. We are working on it though and I find myself being able to do a lot of things one handed ;)

Just yesterday she started smiling at us! She smiled at me twice throughout the day and gave one big smile to her daddy after he got home! Melts my heart!

I try to do tummy time at least once a day but she isn't too big a fan of it. She does a lot better with tummy time on mine or Jay's chest.

She's starting to notice more and more things. She seems to be more interested in the toys hanging above her in her pack n play and stuff like that now. She also really likes high contrast books and videos.

She gets mad when she has the hiccups. She also gets hot really easily which can make her fussy.

In both the good times and the bad these days, I try to remind myself that "it won't be like this for long" (as the song goes) and to cherish each of these things as much as I can.

That's pretty much the excitement at one month. Excited to see what the next month brings!

First 2 Weeks

Wow! 

I cannot believe it has already been two weeks since Elsie was born! 

Time is flying by and I am just trying to enjoy it and soak up all the moments while she is this little.

I took some newborn pictures of her last weekend.

I love this one! She's giving me a bit of a grump face though haha.

This picture is my absolute favorite! 

You won't believe how many pictures of a newborn it takes to get two good ones!  I ordered birth announcements so family will be getting those eventually. She might be 2 months old by the time they get here, and I send them out to everyone, and then everyone actually gets them. haha but they are on their way I promise! 

Elsie had a doctors appointment when she was 4 days old and she had already almost regained all of the weigh she lost the first few days. She has her two week appointment on Monday and I'm betting she has gained more weight. Little lady loves to eat that's for sure! 

This past week she lost her umbilical cord and had her first couple real baths. Bathing a baby is scary. Well... pretty much all of the firsts are scary when you are a new parent. I try not to ask Google too many things and instead have been trying to consult the baby care books that I have. They don't tell you your baby might have (insert disease here) to hurry up and go an ER anytime she sneezes. I have found this Babycare book to be particularly helpful. 

Speaking of scary. We survived a whole 24 hours alone while Jay had duty yesterday. Wasn't as bad as I had feared. I managed to get sleep and both dogs are still alive haha. 

Look for more pictures of Elsie on Facebook or Instagram. I take too many!